Description:The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (JVP) publishes original contributions
on all aspects of vertebrate paleontology, including biostratigraphy, evolution,
functional morphology, ichnology, paleoanthropology, paleobiogeography, paleoecology,
phylogeny, systematics, taphonomy, and vertebrate origins. JVP has been published
since 1984 by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP). The journal was
founded in 1980 by Dr. Jiri Zidek at the University of Oklahoma. A subscription
to the printed edition of JVP and its supplements (occasional SVP Memoirs and
the annual Program and Abstracts volume) is included with regular and student
membership in SVP (www.vertpaleo.org)

The "moving wall" represents the time period between the last issue
available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal.
Moving walls are generally represented in years. In rare instances, a
publisher has elected to have a "zero" moving wall, so their current
issues are available in JSTOR shortly after publication.
Note: In calculating the moving wall, the current year is not counted.
For example, if the current year is 2008 and a journal has a 5 year
moving wall, articles from the year 2002 are available.

Terms Related to the Moving Wall

Fixed walls: Journals with no new volumes being added to the archive.

Absorbed: Journals that are combined with another title.

Complete: Journals that are no longer published or that have been
combined with another title.

Abstract

The giant otter Enhydritherium terraenovae, a New World taxon thought to be related to both the Old World otter Enhydriodon and the extant sea otter Enhydra, was originally described on the basis of relatively limited material, mostly dental. However, an incomplete skeleton of E. terraenovae recovered from the early Hemphillian Moss Acres Racetrack site in northern Florida includes a skull, mandible, part of the axial skeleton, and most of both the fore- and hindlimbs, adding greatly to knowledge of this animal. On the basis of this new material, the osteology of this species is described in detail for the first time, with its diagnosis revised accordingly. This new osteological information, along with information about the nature of the Moss Acres Racetrack site, allows such paleoecological and functional aspects of E. terraenovae as habitat preference, mode of swimming, and diet to be inferred or interpreted in a detail previously impossible. E. terraenovae: 1) was a habitat generalist rather than a marine specialist, as previously thought; 2) was reasonably competent for terrestrial locomotion; 3) extensively used its forelimbs during swimming like living otariid seals, in contrast to the hindlimb-specialized Enhydra; and 4) had a generalized diet, potentially including soft items such as fish, as well as hard items, such as thick-shelled molluscs.